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Dennis Quaid Talks NASCAR & Portraying Ronald Reagan! · Kenny Wallace Media

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  What's it like playing Ronald Reagan?
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  The Great Communicator Actor Dennis Quaid stars in the new
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  movie Regan. It's become my favorite movie
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  now before this, it was the right stuff which had a 40 year
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  reign. So that's saying something when
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  I've done 100 and or something movies.
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  But it was an honor to play in. It was my favorite president and
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  I didn't accept the role at first.
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  It was first offered back in 2018.
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  And, you know, fear went up my spine because everybody knows
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  what Reagan, he's like Muhammad Ali, everybody knows what he
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  looks like, sounds like and all that.
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  I didn't want to do an impersonation like Saturday
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  Night Live, you know, and wanted to try to get find out, you
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  know, the get get down to the human being.
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  And but I so I didn't say yes, but I didn't say no.
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  And I went out to the Reagan Ranch, which it's not a place
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  open to the public. It was the Western White House,
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  you know, and it was bought by friends of Reagan after he
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  passed and they left he and Nancy's clothes in the closet
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  is. I mean, you think they're coming
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  back anytime, but I went at that 5 miles of the worst Rd. in
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  California to get up there and the top and you come out through
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  the gate and I and I could just feel the man.
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  He was a humble man and you know, he really did do all the
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  work there, dug those ponds and the fences and everything that
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  the house was. He wasn't a rich man either,
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  that's come to find out. You know, the house was like
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  1100 square feet. They had a king size bed, but it
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  was two single beds that were zip tied together.
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  That was the president, you know, the leader of the free
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  world. In fact, he even had a little
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  because he was tall for that bed.
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  They even had a little footstool extended off of it.
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  So they, you know, kind of sound a little bit like the Lincoln.
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  And it was, it was, you know, I could really feel his spirit
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  there. And I was lucky enough, you
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  know, had a year to prepare for it.
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  And shooting it was, you know, we had quite a journey with
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  that, with we shot during COVID and we all got COVID and yeah,
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  that. And but we shot at the ranch and
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  we shot, we shot the rest in Oklahoma pretending it was, it
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  was Dixon, IL and a few other places.
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  And the Berlin Wall was right there in Oklahoma in Guthrie,
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  OK, But great cast. Penelope Anne Miller, she's so
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  wonderful in this. And, you know, it was a
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  everybody there. You know, the crew and cast were
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  so dedicated. It's rarely yet really that type
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  of feeling on on a set. And I think that's reflected in
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  the film. Deb Williams Auto Week, thank
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  you for joining us here in Daytona.
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  And July 4th, 1984 was a monumental day and historical
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  day for NASCAR because of President Reagan becoming the
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  first sitting president to attend the race.
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  And he gave the the command from Air Force One and then watching
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  Air Force One land as the cars came off turn two was just
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  beautiful. Have you studied that day?
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  Will any of that be in the movie?
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  No, that's not in the movie. That's one that didn't make the
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  cut. But there's a lot of stuff, I
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  guess, that didn't make the cut to a lot of people.
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  But there's so much in this. You would get to be.
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  There's all the things. I remember he was my favorite
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  president, if I haven't said that before.
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  There was all those things about his story that I always wanted
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  to see or be a family on the wall.
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  You know, the his days as a boy in Dixon that shaped him.
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  The you know, his years in Hollywood and you know that that
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  conversation with Gorbachev, you know, alone in the room and you
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  know everything in it is it's not made-up the everything.
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  I think the only non historical fact was said and done was my
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  dog Peaches, who's a, you know, a miniature bulldog.
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  They didn't have one, but that's about that's she plays the
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  family dog and that's the only thing that's not a a fact.
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  Thank you. Jerry.
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  Over here, Jerry Jordan kicking the tyres.net to your right.
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  I know that Reagan really did a lot for NASCAR with that,
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  though. It really started to take off
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  after that. You started to get the huge
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  crowds. It, you know, became patriotic
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  really out here. You know, it was a it was
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  ushered in a new era and it was, you know, he was he was like
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  that. Yeah.
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  He was the you know, I knew him from a kid when from as as a as
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  a child. I remember he was the guy that
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  sold Barack so soap on Death Valley days and you know, in GE
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  and he, you know, he knew how to sell, which is a great trade if
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  you're a president, you know, because that's what you're
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  doing. You're selling it to the
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  American people and you're selling it to the world.
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  And he did a lot of he did a lot for NASCAR.
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  I bet it was. Just quite sure Jordan kick in
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  thetires.net. So obviously you already had a
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  vast knowledge of of President Reagan and his history.
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  But in preparing for a role, obviously you would study and
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  talk to people who are some of the people instrumental in
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  talking that you talked with to get the story, to get the
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  character and and kind of learn some of the things that you were
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  just dovetailing into in in your previous answer.
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  Well, first and foremost, when I went out to the Reagan Ranch,
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  John Barletta, Trevor is here, I think.
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  He plays John Barletta, I think, and he was the Secret Service
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  agent who was assigned to ride horses with the president
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  because nobody in the Secret Service rode horses or they
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  would actually like a couple of times like walk their horse.
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  You know what the president's riding.
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  It's not exactly a kind of James Bondy and Secret Service thing
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  to do, but but John did and he was, he was at the the ranch
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  there both times I went before we started shooting.
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  Just the greatest guy. You know, his relationship with
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  Reagan was over 30 years. He was with him from that time
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  all the way up to the time that he passed with Alzheimer's and
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  just a great guy. We wanted to put him in the
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  movie as something, but he passed unfortunately, like a
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  couple of months before we started shooting.
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  But people like him who were really close and knew him.
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  Ed Meese there was, you know, everybody to a person said that
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  this is what to me kind of like made beyond the impersonation of
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  doing Reagan. They said that there was a part
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  of him that was a there was a wall there that that would he
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  was kind of unknowable in that place.
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  This is the great communicator, but there was this private,
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  private place that he had that, you know, maybe Nancy and his
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  mother and God reached, but he really kind of kept himself that
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  that private place. Read Reid Spencer with the
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  NASCAR wire. As an actor, what's the
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  mechanism that you use to get beyond the impression and
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  actually become the character? Well, very good.
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  It's it acting fascinates me because it's about what makes
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  people tick. You know, why do they walk the
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  way they do? Why do they, you know, Reagan
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  had a crooked smile. Why is that things, little
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  things like that that add up over the years?
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  And then, you know, given that, you know, you never get away
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  from yourself as an actor because it's your interpretation
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  of it. And you know, like, you know,
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  you know, Tom Cruise movie, no matter what, you know, you're,
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  you're watching Tom Cruise and you know, you're watching Tom
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  Cruise or or Marlon Brando or Jack Nicholson or whatever.
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  So the question is, what would I do if I were that person in this
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  situation? And that's the mechanism for
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  what it makes an interpretation. And you know, and you try to you
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  do you learn everything you can. Like a year I was on YouTube's
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  great because you got all the speeches and all the footage and
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  news footage and what you know, for all that outside stuff, we
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  walked and stuff like that. And a lot of that outside stuff
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  can lead you to how they feel on the inside.
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  And when I play a real person, especially like Jimmy Morris and
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  the rookie or even Doc Holiday who wasn't around, but Jimmy
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  Morris was on the set every day. And then there was Jerry Lee
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  Lewis who was on the set every day right over my shoulder
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  saying to get it around John. But but Reagan is that I want to
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  I feel a responsibility to tell the story from their point of
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  view without judgement either way, you know, and but I think
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  doing it from their point of view out of respect, because if
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  somebody was doing me, I'd I'd want them to do it for me to be
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  my side of the things. You know that.
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  But I didn't want to do like a love letter as well either.
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  You know, it's kind of a warts and all thing.
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  We all have, you know, our where our triumphs and we all have our
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  insecurities and we all have our great assets.
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  And you know, some of them that might be so weak and but he was
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  a great man. That's no question about that.
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  Good of Ben. Dennis Ben White here.
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  Back back to me just a second. You know, if you go on the
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  Internet, you can see some really funny stuff from from
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  President Reagan. I mean, just enjoyable stuff.
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  Did you have a chance to do that?
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  I mean, I mean, you worked really hard on.
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  The roll. But just for fun kicks and
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  giggles, did you just just watch that?
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  Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, the, you know, the best
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  one is the second debate with Mondale where he, you know, he
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  said I will not for political purposes, take advantage of my
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  opponent's youth and inexperience, you know, But then
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  he's like, he picked up the glass.
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  I took a sip of water to let it roll out.
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  And that's where he stole from Jack Benny.
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  In fact, he was always hanging around Bob Hope and Jack Benny
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  and stealing jokes from him. Basically, that's what he was
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  doing. He always, he always opened with
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  a joke. And he had that from, you know,
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  his earliest experiences at public speaking because it put
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  people at ease. And you know, when you get down
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  to talking about serious stuff, it's you kind of get a leg up if
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  you've made people laugh first. Claire B Lang.
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  Hi, Claire. Hi, You're a pretty amazing
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  storyteller and have just really good at talking through a lot of
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  the things that you've done. What's your impression of NASCAR
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  and what got you here today? And what do you think about the
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  Cowboys that wrangle these cars? Man, that's something else
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  because I just love to drive. I did the experience today.
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  In fact, it was just 155. If you want to know, that's what
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  I got. But I just love to drive.
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  Always have, you know, And I grew up at a time.
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  But it was like AJ Foyt. It was another Texan too.
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  And you know, Mario Andretti was, you know, back in those
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  days that those guys, I loved it when they used to get, you know,
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  AJ Foyt would get really pissed and just get out of the car on
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  the track and throw his helmet at somebody going by.
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  And you know, those are fantastic days.
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  And it's gotten down to where I don't know if they get if those
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  guys keep up with these guys or not just a muscle.
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  But you know, Richard Petty too, who probably did more for for
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  NASCAR than anybody, including I guess, inventing it in a way he
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  was. I was going to play Richard
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  Petty actually it in 2003, Disney offered me the chance to
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  do that. And Richard Petty came down, we
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  were shooting, we were shooting a movie out here in Florida.
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  And Richard came down and met him and so I got a bunch of time
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  at the homestead track and that's what I love about what I
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  do, man. You get to go through all these
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  doors to say authorized personnel only, you know, and
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  it's like a, like a, a dream bucket list.
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  I don't need a bucket list already.
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  I'm, I'm on my 4th bucket, but right now.
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  And, but Richard was such a great guy and, you know,
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  genuine, authentic. And that's, you know, that's
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  somebody also brought to everything he did was
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  authenticity. And that transferred on to
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  NASCAR as well. You know, and it's we wound up
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  not doing a movie because I think Disney realized that they
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  were going to have to get some vintage cars and then wreck
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  them. And it was going to be, I think,
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  you know, the budget probably doubled on it on that.
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  So it never got off the ground. Damn it really wanted to do
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  that. Any other?
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  What? I'd like to play his dad,
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  actually. Yeah, that's the interesting
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  part because he was a hard nosed guy, you know, he was something
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  else. I don't know.
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  I love those crotchety guys got. One in the second row over there
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  in the back. Dylan's Dylan's Spaulding
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  without a racing digest. Dennis, welcome to Daytona.
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  Happy to have you here. What has it been like working at
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  least partnering with with Ty and with Joe Gibbs in this
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  project? Obviously seeing the car in in
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  full display with with you on the on the hood.
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  What has kind of been that? First off, man, that that car
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  looks so good. But the, the way they came up
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  with that, I mean, it's, it's, it's pretty incredible.
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  We were in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago spending
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  time with them there, there in the shop, which is like, man,
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  that thing is clean. That is fine.
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  And yeah. And did a practice pit stop,
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  which is Mendez. Are you coming in there?
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  And I guess you're going what? For me it was like 40.
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  I'm sure you're coming in, You know, 60 until, yeah, 6070 miles
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  an hour. What's the speed limit in there?
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  Is it? 65. 65 yeah, yeah, just come.
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  Those brakes work really good. They're expensive.
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  Yeah, even more expensive now that I was on them.
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  But those guys running in front of you and you like that stop
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  like they trust you or whatever. It's really quite something is
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  so much to racing as as a team effort to begin with.
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  That's, you know, it's like, that's what it really makes it
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  interesting. Do we have any other questions?
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  Anybody else? Thank you, Dennis.
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  Movie does come out August 30th nationwide and enjoy the race,
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  Yeah. Love to get all you baby boomers
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  out there to, you know, you led the charge going to the movies
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  back in the 80s. Well, it's, you know, this is
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  one that's made for you and take your kids because it's, it's,
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  it's a great experience. If you're born before 1985, it's
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  a great chance to look back and remember how great this country
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  was.